America’s largest labor federation is calling on the global private equity firm Apollo Global Management to investigate worker surveillance, wrongful terminations, and intimidation of immigrant workers at its subsidiaries.

The union is also sounding the alarm over Apollo CEO Mark Rowan’s connections to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, as well as to President Donald Trump’s push to condition university funding on adoption of conservative policies, including strict gender definitions.

In a March 11 letter, the fifteen-million-member American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) detailed a “growing list of unaddressed workers’ rights violations” that allegedly occurred at three Apollo-owned companies.

The AFL-CIO is urging Apollo’s board to “take action when red flags indicate potential wrongdoing” and to review its subsidiaries’ compliance with the company’s stated “Responsible Workforce Principles.” These principles state that companies will support discrimination-free workplaces, respect unionizing rights, and uphold other worker protections.

In a written response to the union dated March 18, Apollo noted, “Neither Apollo nor any of its portfolio companies have ever interfered with an existing collective bargaining agreement.”

The company response, which was shared with the Lever, also noted, “Your letter cherry picks three isolated examples (two of which were not even originally equity investments) and ignores hundreds of other portfolio companies over the years, many of which have had productive and successful union engagement.”

Through the various companies they own, private equity firms like Apollo employ roughly 10 percent of the private sector workforce, and many of these jobs are in high-risk, low-wage industries. Companies acquired by private equity firms have gone on to be associated with workforce neglect and anti-union tactics.

Disputes at Apollo-Owned Firms

Among its list of concerns, the AFL-CIO highlighted incidents at a Kentucky-based facility run by Maker’s Pride, an Illinois-based food manufacturer acquired by Apollo and another private equity firm in March 2025. According to the union, workers at the company allege that managers surveilled unionization efforts, reported such activity to the police, and fired four organizers, among other actions.

In September 2025, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency tasked with overseeing unions, agreed with workers, ordering Maker’s Pride to cease anti-union efforts and reinstate the terminated workers.

While the labor violations took place before Apollo acquired the company, the private equity firm has kept the same management in place and is now appealing the NLRB ruling.

“Appealing the decision will delay justice for the fired workers, further deteriorate worker morale, and embolden management to stay the course,” the AFL-CIO noted in its letter to Apollo. “The union avoidance activities described in the . . . decision are in direct conflict with Apollo’s Responsible Workforce Principles.”

In its response to the union, Apollo noted that its funds cannot “dictate members of the management team.”

According to the AFL-CIO, other labor rights violations occurred at Apollo-owned Heritage Grocers Group facilities in Illinois and the Southwest. That allegedly included hiring a union-busting consultant and running an anti-union website and text campaign.

The AFL-CIO letter suggested that some of the anti-union messaging seemed designed to intimidate immigrant workers, noting that the local union has “no special relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and that signing a union card will not help with immigration issues.”

Heritage Grocers Group facilities have also settled prior class action lawsuits alleging pay, overtime, meal break, and rest time violations.

“Without addressing each labor claim that has been made against the company, we note that the [local union] has withdrawn several labor-related complaints, and the [NLRB] has dismissed others,” the firm wrote in its letter to the union, adding that some of the actions predate Apollo ownership.

Finally, at the 5 Times Square skyscraper in Manhattan, AFL-CIO representatives say Apollo-owned companies have employed subcontractors in an attempt to bypass the firm’s competitive wage and benefits standards, which Apollo subsidiaries are required to pay.

Apollo told the union it does not control the business operating at the site, and that “the team was responsive to labor concerns and . . . pulled awards after receiving third-party verification of a subcontractor’s labor related violations.”

The AFL-CIO noted that Apollo has a duty to adhere to its own workforce policies not just for the sake of the millions it employs but also for the millions more who have pension funds and retirement savings invested in the firm.

“Billions of dollars of workers’ hard-earned pension assets are invested in Apollo or Apollo-managed private funds,” the letter states. “These workers rely upon the responsible stewardship of their investments for their retirement security.”